Many scientists are forecasting global warming, but some are not. Because a large number agrees does not make it so. One person can be right, or that person can be wrong. A large group can be right or it can be wrong.

When it comes to the future, forecasting is guessing, there are so many variables and nobody knows. I’m not saying they are wrong, I’m saying they well could be wrong. The past sheds doubt on many of the things they say.

History has experienced many variables, but history can be a great teacher. It contains facts, not guesses.

In recent days and years we have had some hot weather, but not as hot as it was in the 1930s — 1933 and 1934 were the great “Dust Bowl.” It was so very hot and dry, and it must have been windy since the air was full of dust, even in our area. Visibility was limited because of it. And weathermen even today admit that 1936 was the hottest year ever.

My father and his hired man made hay at night by moonlight and rested the horses and themselves in the heat of the day. We have had nothing like that in recent years. At that time no one had thought of the term “global warming.” They were too busy wiping the sweat off their brow. No one had air conditioning.

They tell us that icebergs are melting. That was also news back in 1921.

The worst winter in history was 1842, and it was not just confined to the Midwest. Winter began on Oct. 6 with a three-day snow storm, leaving up to 3 feet of snow that lasted until April. The Rock River was frozen Nov. 18 until April 9. Farmers had up to one-third of their cattle die from exposure because they were away in pastures and they couldn’t get them home. Also, stagecoaches had to revert to sleds to get thru the snow.

Fifteen years later the winter was so mild that the ground never froze. Also, my father said one year they plowed every month of the year. I think it must have been during the teens or the ’20s.

Remember in 1941 that winter started on Nov. 11. That morning was a beautiful mild morning, mild and comfortable, but by noon it had started to cool off, and by midnight it was a terrible blizzard and nearly zero. That snow also lasted until spring. Most farmers finished their corn harvest the following spring.

Page 2 of 2 - Another thing, a few years ago it was forecast that because of the warming trend there would be more Atlantic hurricanes. What happened? That year there were none.

They also tell us that already the oceans are rising. Water finds its own level. Therefore, the Gulf of Mexico should be the same level as the Atlantic Ocean. Last winter the Mississippi River was so low they had to dredge the main shipping channel. Why didn’t the Mississippi flow backward and raise the river’s level, or is where the river enters the Gulf the only place on Earth where water flows uphill.

From the facts I have stated I hope you realize we have fluctuating weather, sometimes too warm, sometimes too cold, and sometimes just right. I’ve never heard anyone consistently forecast it right. That’s not surprising, because no one knows what the future holds, even though they think they do.